STUDY GUIDE IN LIT 11A (4th Quarter)

I. Critical Reading Approaches + Is concerned with the reviewer’s

reaction as an audience of a literary
*Critique-is a genre of academic writing work.
- briefly and critically summarizes and
evaluates a work or concept + Claims that a text does not have meaning
-used to carefully analyze a variety of until the reader reads and interprets it.
works + Criticism is focused on the message of the
text.
Critiques can be used to evaluate: love for her as dead stars, his memory of a
1. Creative Works- novels, exhibits, films, long way to get a girl he thought he loved.
shows, images, poetry;
2. Researches- monographs, journal
articles, systematic reviews, theories; Critical Reading Approaches
3. Media- news reports, feature articles.
1. Formalist Criticism
*Criticize- to judge and evaluate someone or 2. Historical Approach
something. 3. Moralist Approach
*Critique- the paper or essay; the product of 4. Feminist Criticism
criticizing. 5. Reader-Response Criticism
*Critic- the person doing criticism. 6. Marxist Criticism
7. Psychoanalytic Approach
*Critique Paper-uses a formal, academic writing 8. Sociological Approach
style and has a clear structure.
-Its body contains the summary of A. Formalist Criticism
the subject and detailed evaluation about it. * Claims that literary works have intrinsic
properties and treats each work as a distinct
Purpose of Critique: work of art.
1. Gauge the usefulness of impact of a work in a * Formalism is about the elements of the
field. text being criticized.
- creativity
- message Elements of the Story
- impact
1. Characters
Parts of Critique: 2. Setting
1. Introduction 3. Conflict
2. Summary 4. Plot
3. Analysis
4. Conclusion

Critical Approaches
-sometimes called “lenses”, are the different
perspective we can consider in analyzing or
interpreting a text.
Dead Stars
by Paz Marquez Benitez

Dead Stars is a short story of an over thirty

years old bachelor, Alfredo Salazar who was
about to get married to his fiancée, Esperanza.
His love and passion for his fiancé started
getting fade as he was attracted to another
woman named Julia Salas. As Alfredo knew 5. Point of View
that his family will disapprove his desire of
having another woman, he unwantedly married B. Historical Approach-involves the
with Esperanza and started his own family. understanding of the historical and cultural
Later, after eight years, Alfredo went on a conditions that influence the production of the
business trip to Julia’s place. In his visit to Julia, literary work.
to his surprise, he recognized that he no more
feel attracted to her anymore. He compared his C. Moralist Approach- conveys a lesson or
love for her as dead stars, his memory of a long message and whether it can help readers lead
way to get a girl he thought he loved. better lives and improve their understanding of
the world.

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 STUDY GUIDE IN LIT 11A (4th Quarter)

D. Feminist Criticism *The Creation of Adam- depicts the

*focuses on how literature presents women passage from the Book of Genesis which
as subject of socio- political, psychological and describes God creating Adam and giving life
economic oppression to the first man
*Tends to reveal the patriarchal aspects of
our culture. *Pieta-- the Virgin Mary supporting the body
of the dead Christ
*based on how men and women were
presented -It means pity or compassion, and
represents Mary
E. Reader- Response Criticism
* concerned with the reviewer’s reaction as an  Leonardo Da Vinci- a great painter,
audience of a literary work. sculptor, architect, scientist and engineer
*claims that a text does not have meaning until *Mona Lisa- visual representation of
the reader reads and interprets it. happiness, as suggested by the Italian word
*criticism is focused on the message of the text. “gioconda’

F. Marxist Criticism *The Last Supper- depicts the shock and

*concerned with the differences between horror of the twelve disciples upon learning
economic classes. that one amongst themselves was going to
*attempts to reveal that the ultimate source of betray Jesus Christ
people’s experiences is the socio- economic
system.  William Shakespeare- the most famous
Renaissance writer
II. Renaissance Period -He is most famous for his plays, but also
 Literature-fiction,non-fiction and academic wrote poetry
narrative -William Shakespeare is also referred to as
 Dark ages- Catholicism and Protestants 'The Bard'. The term bard originally meant a
 King Henry VIII- Catherine of Aragon, Anne friend who likes writing poems.
Boleyn, Jane, Anne Cleves, Kathryn, and
Catherine Parr III. Elizabethan Period
 Black Death- one of the most significant  Queen Elizabeth I was a famous Queen
events in European history, the Black Death who ruled England, Ireland and Wales from
had far-reaching population, economic, and 1558 to 1603.
cultural impacts. This was very unusual for  She was on the throne for 45 years
 the time.  The time she ruled was called the
 Crusades-to recover the holy land; to stop It ‘Elizabethan age’ because of her name.
 It was also a very exciting time as there
was also a very exciting time as there were new
were new ideas about religion, wars with
ideas about religion, wars with Spain and
Spain and English explorers discovered
English explorers discovered new [Link] new places.
expansion of Muslim State; and to maintain  She travelled around England visiting
Catholicism castles and grand houses.
 Major Role: architect, culture, art, opera,  People wanted her to marry so that there
literature, film, and fashion would be someone to take the throne.
 Renaissance Period- rebirth  The queen was worried that, if she married,
-begins in Italy they would want to become King!
- two cities: Florence and
Venice IV. Afro-Asian Period
 Humanism
* emphasized the abilities and Arabian Nights
accomplishments of human beings
* Human believed people were capable of The Arabian Nights opens with two
great things and place a great value on brothers, Shahrayar and Shahzaman, who discover
education. that their wives are unfaithful. They set out to find a
* human-centered virtues for living a peaceful man more unfortunate than they. When they do,
life they return to Shahrayar’s palace, where he
*Scholars encouraged a new way of thinking murders his wife. He decides to marry a new
and learning. woman each night and kill her in the morning as
*Humanities included history, poetry and revenge on women, all of whom he now distrusts.
grammar. Shahrayar kills many until he marries his vizier’s
*Artists painted everyday life instead of daughter, Shahrazad. In an attempt to dissuade
religious scenes Shahrazad from marrying Shahrayar, the vizier tells
 Michelangelo- a famous painter and her “The Tale of the Ox and the Donkey” and “The
sculptor
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 STUDY GUIDE IN LIT 11A (4th Quarter)

Tale of the Merchant and His Wife,” two stories The Mahabharata is essentially the story of
about miscalculation and penitent women. The the rivalry between two bands of brothers in the
stories do not sway Shahrazad, however. Her plan Hastinapura Kingdom, which culminates in a great
is to tell Shahrayar a new story each night and battle.
leave him in suspense, which would cause him to The Pandavas are the five sons of Pandu,
spare her life while waiting for the next tale. the rightful king of the Hastinapura Kingdom. His
eldest two sons were Yudhistira and Arjuna. On the
 The Arabian Nights, also called One other hand, the Kauravas are the one hundred sons
Thousand and One Nights is a collection of of Dhritarashtra, who is Pandu's blind elder brother.
stories and folk tales from West and South The eldest of the Kauravas is Duryodhana, who is
Asia that was compiled during the Islamic the main antagonist in the story. Duryodhana lives
Golden Age against dharma (moral order) and is portrayed as
greedy, jealous, and evil.

V. Indian Period In the story, Duryodhana invited the

 Indian classical literature refers to the Pandavas to a game of dice where the Yudhistira
literary works that were produced in the staked everything and lost. Consequently, the
Indian subcontinent Pandavas then had to go on exile for a total of
thirteen years, during which they prepared
 It is one of the oldest literary traditions in the themselves for war. At the end of their exile, the
world and has a significant influence on the Pandavas and the Kauravas gathered their allies
development of literature and went to war against each other.

 The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are

two of India's greatest epics that have
influenced the Hindu way of thinking and
belief system. The two epics are believed to
be partially based on historical events and
are considered to be "itihasa" in Sanskrit,
which means historical texts.

1. The Ramayana
The word Ramayana literally means the
journey of Rama. It is a story of the triumph of good
over evil that is shown through the victory of Rama
who defeated the demon Ravana who had
abducted his wife. Rama is perceived as the ideal
man in Hindu culture. He is portrayed as loyal,
dutiful, righteous, courageous, wise, strong, and
even handsome.

Rama was born as the eldest of the sons of

the King of the Kosala Kingdom. However, due to
turmoil in family relationships, he was exiled for
fourteen years. As a dutiful son, he willingly went
on exile with his wife, Sita, and his younger brother,
Lakshmana. During the exile, Sita was abducted by
Ravana, the demon king of Lanka (present-day Sri
Lanka). In his search for Sita, Rama befriended
Hanuman, a monkey-human god, who was a great
help to the prince.

Finally, they were able to defeat Ravana

through a fierce battle and save Sita. However, this
was not the end of the story as Sita had to prove
her chastity by walking through fire before Rama
was willing to take her back. Fortunately, with the
help of the gods, she was able to do so and
remained unharmed.

2. The Mahabharata